If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video may be worth a thousand pictures. Indeed, videos for informational and entertainment purposes now represent a substantial portion of today's internet traffic. Still, video technology continues to evolve; even as the use of video over the internet continues to grow exponentially, new types of video are becoming possible.
One significant new type of video that has gained substantial support and wide-spread adoption is referred to as “360° video.” In 360° video capture, video is captured over an angular field that is substantially the full circle (or sphere) of viewing, i.e., 360°. The video information thus captured contains 360° of viewable data, even though the viewer is limited to viewing a normal angular range at any given moment, This means that the viewer must direct his instantaneous view to whatever section of the 360° of video data is of the greatest interest.
Of course, therein lies a problem: The viewer often does not know a priori what will be of interest in the 360° video, and he will likely only be able to react after the fact when interesting events are perceived to occur outside of his instantaneous field of view. For example, if the 360° video is taken from within a vehicle and if the viewer's field of view is forward, then a horn may be heard to the right of the instantaneous field of view. By the time the viewer shifts his view to the right, the event that involved the horn sound may well be over.
The viewer may compensate by rewinding the video and playing it again while directing his field of view to the right in order to view the event that caused the horn sound. However, not only does this practice provide a disjointed user experience, but it also raises the possibility that interesting events or views may be missed entirely.
While the present disclosure is directed to a system that can eliminate some of the shortcomings noted in this Background section, it should be appreciated that any such benefit is not a limitation on the scope of the disclosed principles, nor of the attached claims, except to the extent expressly noted in the claims. Additionally, the discussion of technology in this Background section is reflective of the inventors' own observations, considerations, and thoughts, and is in no way intended to accurately catalog or comprehensively summarize the prior art. As such, the inventors expressly disclaim this section as admitted or assumed prior art with respect to the discussed details. Moreover, the identification herein of a desirable course of action reflects the inventors' own observations and ideas and should not be assumed to indicate an art-recognized desirability.